The Caffeine Chronicles: Little Wolf Coffee, Ipswich, MA

When I first started to look into the specialty coffee possibilities for my trip to Massachusetts a few months ago, about the only place outside the Boston area that I found was Little Wolf Coffee, a cafe–roastery in the small, historic town of Ipswich. There was a nice Sprudge article a few months ago about Little Wolf's awesome wolf-themed packaging and branding — which was a big draw for me both as a fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers (AKA Wolves) and in terms of the design.

The Caffeine Chronicles: Profile Coffee Bar, Portsmouth, NH (CLOSED)

Update: Profile Coffee Bar is now permanently closed.

After a gorgeous sunny day at the wonderful Good Harbor Beach on Wednesday, the weather was a bit more unsettled yesterday so we decided to drive up to the Kittery Outlets, a few miles over the Maine border, for a bit of retail therapy. I had done a bit of research beforehand and come to the conclusion that there wasn't any specialty coffee to be had in the town of Kittery and so didn't bring my camera with me.

The Caffeine Chronicles: Broadsheet Coffee, Cambridge, MA

If you follow me on Instagram, you may know that I'm currently on holiday with my family in Massachusetts. We're staying at a beach house near Gloucester on Cape Ann, about 40 miles northeast of Boston. To the best of my knowledge, the only specialty coffee on Cape Ann is that which I am making in our rental house (I brought some coffee from Catalyst and Five Elephant with me), although there is a coffee shop and roastery I'm looking forward to checking out in Ipswich.

The Caffeine Chronicles: Coffee Circus

Coffee wasn't the main motivation for my recent trip to Crouch End, but a quick bit of research soon indicated that the pretty, north London neighbourhood was not without its coffee merits. I wrote about Velasquez and Van Wezel earlier this week and the second specialty coffee shop I visited in Crouch End was Coffee Circus, a café with cosy, colourful interiors on Crouch Hill (the road that forms the southeastern 'arm' of the X of Crouch End).

The Caffeine Chronicles: Velasquez and Van Wezel

Today's Caffeine Chronicles review features a London coffee shop whose name has a prodigious Scrabble score: Velasquez and Van Wezel in lovely, leafy Crouch End. As regular readers will be aware, I venture north of King's Cross more rarely than I ought, but a good friend moved up to N8 a few months ago and I was long overdue a visit. I decided to arrive early on Saturday to check out a couple of specialty coffee spots first and Velasquez and Van Wezel was first on my list.

Five Books for Your 2017 Summer Reading List

After my successful attempt to read 200 books last year, I've been trying to take things a little easier this year. For me, this meant that at the halfway point of the year, I had read 80 books. After years of reading e-books on my iPad Mini, I finally invested in a Kindle PaperWhite during Amazon's Father's Day Sale, and have been enjoying the experience: it's smaller and lighter than my iPad Mini and I like that I can use it even in direct sunlight.

The Caffeine Chronicles: Coleman Coffee Roasters, Waterloo (CLOSED)

UPDATE: Coleman Coffee is now permanently closed but you can order online from their now-Herefordshire-based roastery.

Just over five minutes' walk from my flat, Coleman Coffee Roasters' roastery and Saturday morning coffee bar in Bermondsey is about the closest specialty coffee spots to my home — and one of the first I visited when I moved to the area in 2012. I often stop by after my Saturday morning run and when I'm browsing the other local food and producers' wares in the arches of Spa Terminus.

It's taken me longer to visit Coleman Coffee's café in Lower Marsh, even though relatively speaking, it's still just down the road in Waterloo. The eponymous Coleman is the friendly Jack, who launched the roastery in 2010 and the newer café last year. Lower Marsh is one of the most vibrant and characterful streets in Waterloo with plenty of independent shops and eateries. It was bustling when I walked over on a sunny Saturday, with a lovely little market selling a mix of crafts, homewares and second-hand goods.

Coleman itself was busy too. The seats inside the small café soon filled up while I was there and the lovely garden in the back was also packed. Although I had heard great things about the Staffordshire oatcakes (savoury pancakes made from oatmeal flour), the only filling that caught my fancy was the smoked bacon and eggs and I wasn't quite sure I could manage a full serving. 

Instead, I ordered a piccolo (£2.40), made with Coleman's house espresso blend, which combines a Guatemalan and a Brazilian variety. There was filter coffee available too (£2.50) but as it was so busy, I thought that an espresso-based drink might be a more considerate order than a hand-brewed filter.

Meanwhile, I took my seat and enjoyed the Lower Marsh people-watching. The coffee itself was very nice — I've tried this Coleman blend before and it works very well as a piccolo or macchiato. Several people sitting at my table had ordered oatcakes and eventually, I gave in to temptation and ordered the bacon and egg variety (£7.50). I was lucky I ordered when I did because they then had to take a brief ordering hiatus to give them a chance to catch up on the lunchtime rush.

The oatcakes were really good. I am not, in general, a huge fan of big, fluffy American-style pancakes, whereas these were a lighter, more savoury affair — well, the pancakes themselves; the portions of the delicious, crispy smoked bacon and fried eggs were generous enough not to count as a light lunch in anyone's book. 

If you have a sweeter tooth than me, you might enjoy them with raspberry jam or marmalade instead, or you could try the Iranian nougat available on the counter.

At the café, they also sell bags of freshly roasted Coleman beans and some lovely Anna Hodgson pottery cups and bowls. If you're close to Waterloo station, Coleman is a great bet for a great coffee and refuel. I suspect that it isn't always quite so hectic as on Saturday lunchtimes, which may make finding a seat a little easier. Note, though, that they are only open until 3 pm throughout the week.

Coleman Coffee. 20 Lower Marsh, London, SE1 7RJ (Tube: Waterloo). Website.

The Caffeine Chronicles: 80 Stone Coffee Roasters (CLOSED)

UPDATE (AUG 2022): 80 Stone's Elephant & Castle location has now closed permanently.

The specialty coffee offerings in many of the neighbourhoods of the London Borough of Southwark have seen increased and diversified greatly in the five years since I moved; you can find my reviews of some favourites here. Until recently, though, it has proved tricky to find good coffee near Elephant & Castle. I've had some decent shots of Italian-style espresso at Mercato Metropolitano, but otherwise, the closest options were in Waterloo or Borough.

The Caffeine Chronicles: Redemption Roasters

Redemption Roasters, whose roastery and barista training centre is based in Aylesbury Prison, was one of the stands I spotted at this year's London Coffee Festival on the way to a meeting and never quite found my way back. This was unfortunate, given the great things I had heard about their coffee, roasted in small batches at the prison, and about their social enterprise: they train up young offenders in roasting and barista skills, and help ex-offenders find work within the coffee industry on their release. Oh, and I love the colourful, eye-catching packaging of their retail coffee bags.

Sky Garden at Sunset

Soon after the Sky Garden opened on the 35th floor of 20 Fenchurch Street (AKA the Walkie Talkie) in the City of London in 2015, I stopped by for a post-sunset visit. Although the free tickets have become a little easier to obtain since the original limited batch since then, it's taken me over two years to return. I thought I'd write up another post, though, including some of my pictures of the Sky Garden by daylight.

You can book up to three weeks in advance on the Sky Garden website. Of course, the popular weekend and evening sessions are the fastest to go, particularly at this time of year when sunset is rather late. I only found out recently that although the visiting hours are advertised as 10 am to 6 pm on weekdays and 11 am to 9 pm at weekends, if there is space, they take walk-ins throughout the day and after these times.

This is particularly handy if you fancy a post-work sunset visit on a weekday in the summer months. I stalked the Sky Garden website for a few weeks until I found a 6.30 pm slot on Sunday, which I was eventually able to swap for a 7.30 pm ticket when that became available instead. It wasn't that busy when I went — even on a sunny Sunday evening — so you might well have been able to walk in without a ticket.

As before, I showed my ID (the named ticket-holder for each group must bring ID), went through the airport-style security scanners (this time, I left my selfie stick at home) and ascended to the 35th floor. My primary complaint about my first visit to the Sky Garden was that the emphasis was much more on the sky than on the garden — it felt like a very nice airport terminal with a great view — but it has become a little leafier over the past two years.

The Sky Pod bar on the 35th floor was also very beautifully decorated with pink and purple flowers including my favourite lavender. I thought about indulging a cocktail (£12.50) with a view, but ahead of my various upcoming travels over the next few months, I restrained. 

There were some nice-sounding drinks on the menu, though, and drinks there — or dinner at one of the two restaurants, which you can book and which give you access to the Sky Garden even without a ticket — would make a nice treat.

Instead, I circled the large space several times — climbing the stairs on the east-hand side, enjoying the views over Canary Wharf, Tower Bridge and Bermondsey and searching for my flat, before I eventually remembered that I needed to climb the stairs on the west side and then look down to the south-east to find my home. It was such a clear, sunny day that the distant verdant hills were clearly visible.

There's another public bar on level 36, on the north side, which allows you to get up close and personal with my favourite City of London building, the Gherkin. Unfortunately, ongoing construction works are already encroaching upon the Gherkin, as reported by Londonist last year, and it is already less visible than on my 2015 visit.

Walking down the west-side stairs, you can look out on the Thames, from Southwark Bridge to Waterloo, and enjoy views over St Paul's, the BT Tower and Wembley Stadium. There's also a small leafy terrace here, which is the best place to have your photo taken with the Sky Garden and the South London cityscape in the background. This is also where I can (sort of) see my home!

Unfortunately, the open-air Francis Golding Terrace on the 35th floor was closed; I read later that it shuts at 6 pm and so isn't compatible with a summer sunset visit. This is a shame as everywhere else in the Sky Garden requires you to take photos through the highly reflective and fingerprint-smudged glass. I did take the lift to the 37th floor where the Fenchurch Restaurant is located, though, which gave a slightly different perspective.

As the sun began to set, the crowds flocked to the western windows. I was glad I got there early to stake out my place. The sunset was nice that night, if not a blockbuster, but it was fun to watch the city slowly light up as the sun went down.

The Sky Garden too decided to welcome me by turning on its neon pink lights —my favourite colour — or perhaps they do that every night? I must really try to book a table at one of the Sky Garden restaurants — I've heard breakfast and brunch at the Darwin Brasserie is particularly good — for another experience. Let me know in the comments if you've dined at the Sky Garden and would like to report back.

The Sky Garden. 20 Fenchurch Street, London, EC3M 4BA (Tube: Aldgate). Website. Instagram.

The Caffeine Chronicles: Hopper Coffee (CLOSED)

UPDATE: Hopper Coffee has now closed permanently.

The words, "this bus is on diversion; please listen for further announcements," usually make me sigh heavily on my morning commute but there can sometimes be upsides. For example, when my bus was diverted northbound up Gray's Inn Road a couple of weeks ago, I happened to spot Hopper Coffee, a tiny coffee bar on the junction with Roger Street, from the upper deck. I often walk or run up and down Gray's Inn Road, but I'm usually on the other side and had never noticed Hopper Coffee before so I was, for once, grateful for the diversion.

I went back at lunchtime a few days' later to check it out. Inside, it's cosy and, as I mentioned, rather diminutive. There is a bench outside on the pavement and a couple of spaces to sit in the window, but otherwise, it's elbow-room only (and not much of that). Nonetheless, on a sunny Friday, there was a constant stream of customers, including many regulars, and the friendly baristas kept things moving very well. The sleek white espresso machine and monochrome menu and neon sign add some edge to the rustic exposed-brick walls and coffee-sack-lined window seat.

They roast their coffee locally and there were five single-origin espressos available when I visited. There aren't any hand-brewed filter coffees on the menu but you can try several 'signature drinks', including the Great White and the Great Long Black. There is also an assortment of toasties and various sweet treats on offer.

I had a piccolo (£2) made with a blend of a couple of Central/South American coffees and it was expertly brewed. The coffee tasted smooth and rich, and the latte art was very good. As most of their customers take their coffees away, be warned that they serve the coffee in disposable cups, so you may wish to consider bringing your own reusable cup — or if you ask nicely, like I did, they may be able to rustle up a glass for you.

This neighbourhood, on the boundary between Bloomsbury and Clerkenwell, has several other excellent coffee shops — most notably Prufrock and Catalyst — but if you're in the market for a quick but very good espresso-based drink, don't overlook Hopper Coffee.

Hopper Coffee. 81B Roger Street, London, WC1N 2JX (Tube: Russell Square or Chancery Lane).